The Chicago Bears Must Fire Mel Tucker
Two things from Sunday’s 33-28 loss to the Packers really stood out that make me believe that the Bears need to part ways with Tucker and bring in a new defensive coordinator.
First, was the ridiculous Jarrett Boykin fumble recovery touchdown. I touched on this in my post-game writeup, but it’s worth bring up again. You can say what you want about Lovie Smith, but his teams ALWAYS ran to the ball. Even incomplete passes were picked up as the whole team ran to the ball. It wasn’t just going through the motions, it was part of the culture. There is ZERO CHANCE that Boykin scored on that play against the Bears last season. James Anderson was just being lazy, as the ball bounced at his feet and he didn’t bother to scoop it up. But blame Lance Briggs, who’s the defensive captain and a carryover from the old guard.
The second thing was the 4th and 8 touchdown pass to Randall Cobb in the closing minute of the game. There was a lot of confusion about whether the Bears were playing a zone or man coverage. How is that not straightened out in the first 15 games of the season? How can you not effectively communicate to your players what coverage you’re in on the most important play of your season? It’s inexcusable. Those two instances alone are fire-able offences.
Say what you want about injuries and age and the window closing, but a lack of effort and a lack of communication go straight to the coordinator. Someone needs to be held accountable for a Chicago Bears defense that was ranked 30th in scoring, giving up 29.9 points per game. A defense that gave up 394 yards per game. A run defense that gave up an average of 5.3 yards per carry, the worst such average in 50 years! In the long and storied history of the Chicago Bears, no other team had ever allowed at least 20 points in each game in the season. This Bears D couldn’t stop anyone. Blame the players, blame the GM for a lack of quality depth behind the starters. I blame the coordinator. Tucker needs to go. And take Conte with you.
What do you think Bears fans? Is there any reason to keep Tucker around? Do you give him another chance to work with a re-tooled defense? If they get rid of Tucker, who would you like to see at the controls of the defense?